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So I have a "vintage" gaming rig if you've followed my post, and I've got a few questions about it, the specs of the PC in question are:

First and foremost, I only have $25 or so in the whole computer. I don't intend to spend a lot on it either.

Windows 98 SE Plus!
MSI Socket 478 SiS chipset mATX motherboard
Celeron D 3.06GHz
1GB DDR400
AGP 8X nVidia GeForce FX 5500 256MB GPU
Sound Blaster Live! Value PCI sound CARD
2x 80GB IDE HDD's (WESTERN digital and a seagate I think, I've forgotten) For windows 98
1x 160GB (Or 320GB, I've also forgotten) IDE HDD for Windows XP

With that out of the way, I'll cut to the chase, first question:

First, does anyone know of any "QUIET" Socket 478 CPU coolers? Even with the fan controlled to spin down and SET to let the system run a bit on the warm side, it's still loud! It sounds like a face hugger is stuck in a vacuum when my CPU fan spools up under load. If nothing else, I guess I'll have go go with a Noctua "I've spilled brown on my fan" 60mm CPU fan, they seem quiet enough. But $15 for a fan? Bah, this really offends me.

Second, does anyone know any alternatives to mechanical hard drives I can use on the IDE bus? I know CompactFlash is one option, but a bit pricey. SD would probably be laughably slow and ultimately not survive long term use. Sooo, I guess if anyone knows anything other than CF I can use, lemme know... Unless you have a magic trick to make SATA work on Windows 98 'cause the SiS chipset on my board does not like Windows 98 at all!

If you tell me "Emulation is a better solution", I'll completely ignore you. Emulation bores me, real hardware amuses me, even if it's a bit too new it's still great playing games from my childhood on a CRT. I however, do not miss trackball mice... Not at all... 

Otherwise, if you have suggestions to make the CPU cooler quieter, or storage options let me know! Hi

You can still get new socket 478 fans for under $10.00. Ebay would be a start or a local computer shop could have old stock. If you under clock your CPU  you may be able to slow the fan with a fan controller  and still keep temps low. Have you tried lubricating the fan like in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6yb4sGg_FY

You can get IDE to SATA adapters like this one  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0096BEJDI/ref=psdc_3015394011_t1_B001PYSAJI this supports boot from any windows version supported by the IDE interface.

I would check your chipset is not limited to hard drives 160 GB or less. Before installing other drives.
You could use  a PCI sata card like this one https://www.amazon.com/GODSHARK-Controller-Internal-Expansion-Converter/dp/B07R3YFFR7
Which will boot windows XP but not windows 98 so you would need an IDE drive for 98.

Most sources say 3-5 years but they are based on assumptions about typical operating hours per year. I could find only one reference to older HDD’s with very few actual operating hours. I am curious because I was thinking about buying an enclosure for my 6 yo WD Caviar Blue salvaged from my old PC. I would say it has only 800-1000 operating hours, tops. Same with my 8-1/2 yo WD Elements portable. I use my Elements to store back-up images. Should I be tossing these older drives and buy new? Or, are they good to go since they have such low operating hours? Thanks.Regardless of whether a drive is brand new or years old, it could fail at any moment.  The best defense against this is redundancy of data.  The more critical your data, the more redundancy.

I don't toss older drives that are still working (that seems a waste to me) but make sure I have good backups of everything so, if a particular drive fails, I can replace it and restore it's contents from my backups. Quote from: strollin on October 31, 2019, 07:23:17 AM

Regardless of whether a drive is brand new or years old, it could fail at any moment.  The best defense against this is redundancy of data.  The more critical your data, the more redundancy.

I don't toss older drives that are still working (that seems a waste to me) but make sure I have good backups of everything so, if a particular drive fails, I can replace it and restore it's contents from my backups.

For Hard Disks, Much like people, age is not necessarily a direct indicator of reliability. things like Mean-Time-Between-Failures don't tell you when you can expect your specific drive to fail; it could fail sooner, or it could last 10 times that amount. It could be completely DOA in the manufacturer packaging, or fail shortly after use, or it could fail after a year or two, or it could last 10 years, etc.

As Strollin said, best approach is to assume a drive can fail at any moment, and, of course, be privvy to the signs of impending failure to take action early- better to have a backup or disk clone and not need it than to have a drive fail that you could have cloned but didn't because you figured it was fine.

For my own anecdote, my PC has a 1TB SSD, a 4TB WD Red and a 4TB WD Blue and I have another 4TB WD Blue as an external. The 1TB SSD as well as the Blue are themselves replacements for a Seagate SSD as well as a 3TB Seagate drive. Once they started to show problems (the SSD was at about 80% of it's percent lifetime used, and the 3TB started to disconnect randomly during intense use. the former still works fine in another non-critical PC, but the 3TB ended up failing outright when used as a similarly non-critical data drive on that same system after removing it.

I've got an identical WD Red and WD Blue as those I have installed waiting in a cupboard (having only been used to verify they weren't DOA) specifically as replacements for the two I have installed.

We published our first “Hard Drive Stats” report just over 5 years ago on January 21, 2014. We titled that report “What Hard Drive Should I Buy.” In hindsight, that might have been a bit of an overreach, but we were publishing data that was basically non-existent otherwise.
Many people like our reports, some don’t, and some really don’t — and that’s fine. From the beginning, the idea was to share our experience and use our data to shine a light on the otherwise opaque world of hard disk drives. We hope you have enjoyed reading our reports and we look forward to publishing them for as long as people find them useful.

Hi artbuc

With putting desktop drives into mains powered en closures there is less problems than laptop drives powered from USB ports.
Main problem with desktop drives is heat and any movement when running.  So a Western Digital Black drive would not be a good drive to put into a external case  without some form of cooling also some cases have tool less plastic mounts which don't have any heat transfer so you would be better with the Green versions of WD drives Seagate do a green drive as well. You don't say the capacity of the WD blue drive you have even some of these run hot.

Most notebook drives draw between 600 ma to about 1 amp from 5v so are not able to operate on a usb 2.0 port or even some usb C ports so reliability is an issue. Drive manufactures of usb drives use designs which draw only 200 ma to 650 ma so start more reliably and are more stable operating. Drives like the Transcend or WD passport power down when not in use.
SSD drives in external cases, most draw over 1 amp current and a cheap SSD can loose a lot of data if the power gets disconnected before it is dismounted.
There is lots of other things to consider this is just some of them.

 
 

I have a two-year-old WD Black HDD in my old Windows 7 desktop.  I just bought a new Dell XPS running Windows 10 with a 1TB HDD and a smaller SDD.  What do I need to do to the old WD Black drive in order to install it in my new machine?To be honest. it is not worthwhile.
The old drive ILL not help new PC. 
I think now dell XPS is only a model of dell laptop, If it is then the desktop drive will not fit or there will be no slot FREE. You could use it in a caddy. Or perhaps use a NAS box.

Caddy
 
 Dell offers both XPS desktops and laptops.

Provided your XPS is a tower desktop model then the odds are pretty good that it can accommodate the 2TB drive.  You will need to see if there is an open SATA port on the motherboard of the computer.  If there is then you'll need a SATA cable to connect from the motherboard SATA port to the data connection on the drive.  You will also need an available power connection from the power supply.  Once you have both of those, then you need to physically install the drive in an available bay of the tower.

Once the drive is physically INSTALLED and electrically connected to the system, the drive should then be able to be accessed from Windows EXPLORER when the system is booted.  If the drive was a boot drive in the old system (meaning it had the Operating System on it) then you should format it to rid it of the old OS and to free that space.  If there is data on the drive you wish to keep, back that data up before formatting it. Keep in mind it will not boot to Windows on the new PC...hook it up tp SATA port 3 or higher to prevent it trying to.

Up to now Wi-Fi USB things were only the 2.5Ghz band. Being able to network on the 5Ghz band has two advantages. One is more bandwidth, the other is less interference because FEWER PEOPLE use it.
Now you can find dual-band USB doubles on Amazon, Best, Bu and the usual places.
You MAY be surprised about how MUCH he price can vary. Look at this wholesale site:
https://www.aliexpress.com/
No, I do not work for them. My concern is the wide range of prices they show for what looks like the same thing. Look at this picture:
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=AS_20200113094448&SearchText=adaptador+wi-fi+dual+band
(Image is below.)
Notice how these things look so much alike. 

My laptop is Razer Blade 2017 (14-inch, GTX 1060), using the 180W power supply.

This power supply runs fine on another laptop

Lately my laptop is having performance issues probably related to the power source or the battery. Every time i start playing a heavy game, the laptop immediately starts acting like i'm unplugging and plugging the charger constantly.

The battery icon keeps indicating that i'm unplugging and plugging the charger over and over again.

Please note that i have already cleaned dust out of my COMPUTER and changed its THERMAL pasting thinking that it might solve the issue but unfortunately it didn't.

I also tried running the laptop WITHOUT its internal battery and everything was fine until i wanted to start playing a game which ENDED in an immediate and sudden shut down of the laptop.

I'm so confused, and it's making me re think my decision of buying an Razer laptop as it is only 2 years old and showing what might be a serious internal issue.

Will someone please HELP me figure out a way to solve this ?Links Deleted

Hey all,

Firstly I hope everyone is geared and ready to have a great time over the holiday period whatever you're planning. 

Secondly, I've removed and replaced the fan, replaced the goo with some new Arctic Silver 5, cleaned all the dust out and it is still switching off after about 3-4 minutes.  Pretty much the length of time to load everything.  Is it something else?

Any pointers to fix this would make my Christmas, so if there is a Mr/Mrs/Ms Santa Claus out there with some ideas to fix this please post a reply here.

Many thanks!
Sorry... Its an MSI CR620.  Replacement fan was of the same type.

thanks!

Forgot to say its running win7  How are you monitoring your temps...and what are they ? ?

I suspect the new fan isn't fully seated...
hey Patio,

I haven't managed to use anything yet.  BUT I've checked the fan and seems to be placed okay.  It's stayed on and I uninstalled the anti-virus to install a new one.  The system for some reason wouldn't boot up or use it's own windows files to fix the problem.

Getting a 0x8007025D error.  I've USED diskpart and convert to mbr to fix the issues.  So, now I can just sit it there and it will run but no OS.  Will try again tomorrow.  I use speccy.  Gives me a GOOD overview of everything.  I should probably close this as it did switch off on my bed but constricted airwaves probably caused that and NEVER switched off again when I powered on.  Could probably close this one I think and maybe open new thread for 0x8007025D error.

Thanks for replying!!

I probably never gave it enough time after I CHANGED the fan and thermal paste.  I'll post the 0x8007025D in a different thread I've closed this off as resolved.  Cheers mate!

Hello, so I have a weird issue, and I tried looking it up and I can't find anything on it.  This has done this with two computers now.  If I have a 3.5 mm device plugged into them, for some reason I get audio interference, I'm pretty sure it is a radio station I am hearing.  I have no audio playing on the computer during this time.  I am unsure what this interference is and how I would fix this.  Thank you!Maybe I can help.
Make a short recording of the interference ans post it here in MP3 or WAV format so others hear what you hear.
I'm not sure how well a microphone will be able to pick it up, I can try once I get a chance later tonight.
Basically the best way to describe it is like a really quiet radio.  It definitely sounds like a radio station, it has the static and it's very very quiet.Okay, based on the limited amount of information you've given I have to make some assumptions. I will assume you are using a laptop computer running Windows 10 and you have the ordinary things hooked up to it.
Sometimes radio stations do cause interference with audio systems. Most often this is when the radio station is quite powerful and located near to your house. But there there are even exceptions to this rule. Most often the interference comes from a.m. radio stations. The FM radio stations seldom PRODUCE any noticeable interference on audio system. However, television stations can cause interference because the old standard for television broadcast is amplitude modulation for the video signal. But in most parts of the United States television now has gone digital and that should not be an issue.
The key point is whether not you can recognize audio sounds that sounded like either music or somebody talking. That would most surely be sounds from an AM radio station. Another scenario would be when somebody is using a single sideband transmitter in your area. Most of the night is from either an amateur or a citizens band transmitter. That kind of interference sounds like a voice but it is not understandable.
In either case, it is not the fault of the radio station but brother a flaw with the audio equipment. Some audio equipment has report SHIELDING and in some cases the shield on the cable might be broken and you don't even notice it except for the interference from a radio station and possibly a little bit of noise pickup from something else.
Another type of interference comes from electrical appliances that send noise down the power line. But this type of noise is clearly a noise and not like human speech.
Television sets can generate a type of noise that can get into your audio system, but this is rather rare because the amount of power level used is not that high and the television usually has filters built into it to keep noise from traveling outside of the TV set on to the house wiring.
Here are some things you can try with either a laptop or desktop. Try and see if the noise is being carried by some type of peripheral, such as, a keyboard.
Also, try and see if you can isolate which input on your computer is giving you the noise. Tried to adjust the level of each device that feeds into your audio system of your computer. You may find that it is not coming from any specific device.
If all else fails, you might consider using a different audio adapter for your computer. That is cheaper than going to a computer shop and asking them to figure out the problem you can get a small audio adapter that fits into your USB port and it has an output for headphones and an input for a microphone. I have used one of these and they work fine.
By the way, do try listening to your audio with just headphones and not a loudspeaker? In some cases it may be the external loudspeaker that is actually causing the interference. I mean to say that the input to the loudspeakers has some difficulty with the shielding and the noises coming in through either the input wire or through the coupling with the power line. Some portable loudspeakers can run on batteries, and if so, that of the one way to eliminate the power adapter as being the source of the noise.
Since you have not given enough specific information about your computer, I've had to generalize the different kinds of noise that you could have, especially noise that would come from A.M. radio transmitter nearby.

I hope this is of some help to you.

End of dictation. Thank you and I apologize for the lack of information.  It definitely is music I hear.  I  am actually using a desktop computer, but I do have the regular things hooked up to it.  I have tried this on two different desktop computers with two different speakers and two different audio cables and I am PRODUCING the same result.  So my best guess would be an AM radio station from your description.  It is fine when I use a USB headset with the computer (which is why it's not the biggest of deal) but if I have headphones or speakers connected to either computer via 3.5 mm, it'll produce the same faint music result in the background.  Computer wise, I am running is https://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-Pavilion-Gaming-Desktop-Tower-Intel-Core-i5-9400F-NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-1660Ti-8GB-RAM-256GB-SSD-690-0073w/902037635?fbclid=IwAR0hA-3LTiJoJT9r4s6qo6qLgomIRDezMo113TdnsW55jJQpO2JaLTQnL18.  I also am running a dell touch screen computer (not sure the model) but this computer does it as well.  The speakers I am using are https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002HWRZ2K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.  I also have another pair of altec lansing, but those also get the interference as well.  Would it potentially help if I replaced the surge protector that my computer is plugged into?The specific topic is:
Radio Frequency Interference with Audio equipment
Here is a helpful link
http://www.arrl.org/radio-frequency-interference-rfi
This is a general coverage of a topic that has many parts.  Yea, the material is for radio amateurs, it is much easier to read that articles by engineers. In fact, ARRL has more info about radio interference.

Go to the link an look at some of the topics. The scroll down and find two links by K9YC. He has info specif to Audio system issues. A radio transmitter will interfere with nearby audio equipment.
http://audiosystemsgroup.com/RFI-Ham.pdf

The problem is also with AM radio stations. Often they are located in areas where a very strong ground wave goes out.  When I worked in Santa Clara, we had some issue with KGO getting into some test tools  that were no well shilled  The station is 50,000 ewatts ats and located on the other side of the San Francisco Bay. The salt water provides and very good surface for the ground wave.

Basically, the solution is to used more shielding and EMI stuff. Typical surge protectors little or no  EMI filters. Also called RFI filters.

What is RFI FILTER?
This article discusses the RFI filter (RFI stands for radio frequency interference) and EMI filter (electromagnetic interference filter)–aka RF interference filter. EMI, or RFI, is a type of electric or electronic emission that can degrade, impair or prevent electrical circuit performance.
https://www.thomasnet.com/articles/automation-electronics/RFI-EMI-Filters/

I think the ARRL articles are more easy  to understand.

If the articles are too much to grasp,n comeback I I will try to help you some more.  I was both a radio engineer and a active Ham operator for many years. And I worked as a volunteer in portable pubic address audio equipment setup and operation. So I have seen a ting or two. 
Years ago I read of an old lady who went to a hospital in the UK saying she could 'hear voices', and they were becoming intolerable. The doctors were considering psychiatric evaluation. One of them thought to ask 'What do the voices say?'. She said 'Well, a man is reading the news right now' (it was just past being exactly on the hour). It turned out she had a metal filling in a tooth, and it was rectifying the 200 kHz signal from a 500 kilowatt BBC AM transmitter 5 miles away. The ground wave covers most of the UK and some of the nearer parts of continental Europe. The tiny sound was resonating in her oral cavity. The doctors could put their ears to her opened mouth and hear the broadcasts. Near a transmitter people sometimes hear such sounds from metal structures, wire fences, etc, mainly where a poorly conducting metal to metal joint is rectifying the signal. Sometimes an arc can be seen if it is dark at the time. I would consider: grounding, shielding, and maybe touch lightly jack plugs, etc, with fine emery cloth. Also signals can be fed back into the input of an amplifier by speaker wires acting as antennas.
Salmon Trout is not telling a false story. This has been documented and you can search for it.

Metal dental filling in tooth gets radio broadcast
https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/3638/is-it-possible-to-pick-up-radio-signals-from-dental-fillings

https://www.portablepress.com/blog/2018/08/can-dental-work-pick-up-radio-broadcasts/

Here is denial:
https://mythbusters.fandom.com/wiki/Tooth_Fillings_Radio_Myth

There are many more sources about this story.You heard stories of farmers near the transmitter (at Droitwich) rigging coils in their barns, connected to fluorescent tubes, to get free lighting. It was built in 1934 and is still operating. There are fewer than 10 of the transmitter vacuum tube type left in the world,  and the BBC does not intend to have any more made. Hi Adam

Sorry to say these are really cheap speakers. Looking at the Amplifier circuit diagram  and the power supply design  I can understand how you would have this problem. You would be better to get a different pair with the option( if they had the same problem you could return them). There is really nothing you can do with poor designed items.

Other speakers are around the same price like these ones  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CQOV3YO/ref=psdc_689637011_t4_B010OYASRG
Which have more options.

I ACQUIRED an older computer (2009 era) and wish to increase its 'process' SPEED.  Currently - if it presented with too many tasks at once - it locks up and AUTOMATICALLY reboots.  Currently has 2 (4 GB) modules - with room for 4 total.  Bus Clock:  333 megahertz.

I ran a Belarc Advisor report to obtain internal computer information.

Modules:  F2-8500 CLD5-4GBPK
               DDR2-1066-PC2-8500

What additional information does one need to know to confirm?

The motherboard supports 16GB as the maximum total. If you can findd 4GB DDR2 modules then you should be fine.

If you can find two more 4GB DDR2 modules then you can install them.

However,

Quote

Currently - if it presented with too many tasks at once - it locks up and automatically reboots.

I have an older laptop, and a couple months ago, the period key stopped WORKING. I think that is the only key, so I ordered a keyboard.

I just replaced it, and it still doesn't work. How can that be?I switch out the hard drive in two of my computers, it worked FINE until I told it to reset the info. I did a diagnosis on the hard drive everything passed. once I leave the test screen it goes BLANK and nothing. I tried to use my restore USB drive but it doesn't see it. I changed the boot order to boot from the USB still nothing. Help I'm trying to get it set up for my grandson.I'm guessing that somehow, the keyboard port on the motherboard must have gone faulty, which is why the key doesn't work, even after a keyboard replacement. It's weird, that it's only ONE key, because usually when that happens, it affects a CLUSTER of keys.

Thank you for your help.

Greets ti All

I live in a STATE where you can buy the States old computers for a Song minus the hard drive, everything else is there.

I have some serious questions about doing this, if I bought such a bare bones COMPUTER, added a HD and an OS would it work or am I just buying blind.

I've been told that if you doi SOMETHING like this that you can only get it to work if you put in the same OS that was in the PC originally. That it won't work with a different OK because of the way that MS configures plug and play hardware.Well, you'll come to the right place.
I'm using dictation to give you a quick answer.
No, don't do it.
The fact that you come here to ask suggest to me that you have no experience in personal computer retailing sales.
From my own experiences and observations I would say that you do not want to even make a bid on anything owned by a government agency that is trying to get rid of it. Because if the stuff was of some value they would've already had somebody come in and get it or else it would have been sold to employees.
Before anybody can help you, you have to indicate what make and model and how many units are available from the state agency. It is Ray likely that the units they have are not PC compatible units. Without more INFORMATION. I could only make a wild guess that the units are going very cheap because nobody wants them.
Of course, just as soon as you can give some information about the model number and make an age, you will get some better answers from other members of the form.

That's the best I can do for you.  HI jsoward,

This is a great way to get a computer but as geek said you will need to give some details of what you are buying. Most Government computers are around 3 years old and normally have a lot of life left. I would suggest if they are a DELL or HP you buy 2 and keep the 2nd for parts also make sure you get the mounting screws. Parts for corporate equipment can get really expensive it is  like the manufactures don't want them to be fixed just replaced. Sometimes the computers have been taken out of the box and used for 3 years and then returned to the same box so have new mice, keyboards and sometimes the recovery cd's. If the computers were running Windows 10 then it is easy to install a hard drive (ssd drive) and load windows 10 it will activate against the bios so no need for a key.
It's getting really hard for Governments to recycle computers so you will be doing them a service taking a couple off there hands.

Hi all, I have an Asus strix x570-e with some bizarre front panel problems.

The speaker, power switch and reset switch all works fine. The power and the HDD LED's on the other hand don't WORK at all.

I've proved that the LED's themselves work and reversed the polarity to no avail.

Things become more bizarre when taking a multi meter to the connector pins:

  LED      SWT   
(2+ 4-) (6+ 8-)           PWR
(1+ 3-) (5+ 7-) (9?)    HDD/Reset

According to the manual this motherboard follows the standard pin out convention but I get 5V across 2-1,  4-3 showed a fluctuating voltage, 0v across 2-4 & 1-3.

I thought maybe that the pin outs were supposed to be ROTATED but 2-1 retains 5v SOMEHOW when the PC is switched off (In shutdown state, not unplugged).


Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Since you got 0v across 2-4 & 1-3, I wonder if the LED and SWT positions are switched.  Try hooking up the LEDs across 6-8 & 5-7 and the SWTs across 2-4 & 1-3.But the buttons work fine, just not the indicators.

If no one has any other ideas then I'll just hook the power LED up to a floppy disk molex(?). That appears to deliver 5v when the system is on.

Hi.
I'm hoping this post will be accepted on here as it refers to ancient tech.
I have a BBC Micro model B computer , bought in 1983. I recently got it out of the attic hoping to show my kids the software on the 5.25" floppy disks which included a project I wrote for my Computer science exam in 1986.
Unfortunately I had difficulty reading the disks.
I cleaned one with water and a COTTON bud and I also attempted to CLEAN the head on the drive itself.
Unfortunately I damaged the head and the drive is now dysfunctional.
I looked on eBay for a drive but they're not cheap and before I purchase one I thought it might be a good IDEA to have the disks checked first , in case they are dead too.

Can anyone suggest a way of doing this , perhaps transferring the data onto a different media or somewhere who could test them for me .
Thanks

Hi

Unfortunately the BBC used 720k floppy disk drives which are no longer made. If you are in the UK, you could get them copied at the British computer museum which is in  Bletchley Park. If in New Zealand I have 5 1/4 " 720 k floppy drives and a going BBC. Once they are copied to a usb drive you can run Beeb emulator on a PC and then not use the BBC. most of the old BBC software is available for download from sites like here http://www.bbcmicro.co.uk/

The drive you have was probably rusty on the head rails or just dry a little SEWING machine oil or Vaseline on the rails works wonders. Also are the floppy disks turning freely in the sleeve if not they may have dust or mold binding the disk. Then if you have new sleeves you can take the media out and put it in a new sleeve. I would inspect the media  and dust off with a can of air and a very soft BRUSH, only as a last resort wash it. Hi.
Thanks for the reply.
I'm in the UK so I'll try the museum option. Thank you for that.
Ideally I wanted to get the BBC computer running with the floppy drive connected , just as it was 35 years ago , but alas this is now looking a simple pipe dream.There are floppy disk emulators for the bbc which plug in to the floppy port, they even have sound tracks which give the sound of a floppy booting they are so cool. They have one at the computer museum with all the BBC software loaded. Don't throw the old drive out you could use the case and put a usb floppy drive in behind the front.
Also please don't leave the BBC plugged in and switched on when you are not with it, the power supply is likely to start smoking with dried out capacitors.

I've been TINKERING with an old Dell laptop an Inspiron N7110. I replaced the motherboard and I was getting the 7 beeps issue, and no bootup. Unable to resolve it with some of the more common techniques, I replaced the CPU. It is powering up, and booting up now, but there is no display. I don't think I forgot to connect anything, but I may have to take a look. Any idea what area that is in? Assuming I did connect everything, any ideas how to TROUBLESHOOT? Hi Wolfman

Not sure if you have the maintenance manual for your laptop it is available here https://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-17r-n7110_service%20manual_en-us.pdf

If you have a monitor you could USE the laptop VGA port to isolate the display as the problem. Is it STILL giving 7 beeps or did replacing the motherboard fix that problem ?
Have you tried the Dell web site?
In the USA:
https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/

This might help, I beleive this was the laptop you was working with:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyR1mfzHrQk

I imagine you want to whatch the bit between: 7:15 - 7:40Lisa- I connected an external monitor, and still no display. The laptop was originally dead. Ruled out the power connections, so replaced the motherboard. This is when it powered up, but did the seven beeps. The rewarming technique didn't work, so I then replaced the CPU. It now seems like it might be booting up, but no display.

Accessless-I remember connecting these connections, but I may have to go back and see if the larger display ribbon is still in place.

Geek- I will begin to go through the Dell pages.

Thanks for the help, any other ideas, let me know.

My hard drive says it a foreign disk after being excluded from a spanned volume. How do I go about wiping it and make it a single clean drive again? It also won't let me import it DUE to an i/o error. I've tried everything from disk part to GParted any other help would be much appreciated. Thanks! =)  I'd run crystaldiskinfo and see if that drive shows up as damaged. If it shows up as GOOD in green there are a few things I can suggest, but if it comes up in Yellow Warning or Red then  I'd toss that drive and get a new one. Crystaldiskinfo is a free tool. I use the stand alone standard edition which doesnt require an install. https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/About GParted  from Ubuntu forum:
Quote

You should be able to right-click on the partition you want to SET as bootable and click "Manage Flags", and then check the box for the boot flag. If you are using parted , you can print for the list of partitions, and then set 1 boot on to enable the boot flag for the first partition.May 28, 2014

Enquire if this gadget will improve wifi reception. HP Probook 450 G0, Win 7/64. Wifi works but thought i can improve 'SPEED' by buying this guy. Can I use both viz laptop wifi and Netis. How do y check which one is faster. ThanksOkay dictation.
This is intended as a quick and short answer, but expect somebody else to come ALONG and going to more detail with you.
Generally speaking, the ETHERNET connection should be faster than the wireless connection.As Geek said Ethernet cable will be the fastest. The USB wireless adapter is no better than the wireless in the Laptop.
Waste of money...
Only way to increase yer speed is call the PROVIDER...and pay more.

Hello,


Yesterday my sound was working no problem.
Today I couldn't connect to my internet radio station, so I WENT through troubleshooting and reinstalled Windows Media player.
I cannot play sounds from any program, and the speaker icon has gone missing from my system tray.
I have so FAR:
- Made sure that my onboard sound is enabled in BIOS
- Downloaded the latest audio drivers and installed them.
- Followed three of the solutions here: http://www.geocities.com/mmsystem002/ because I got this error: "MMSYSTEM002: A device id has been used that is out of range for your system."

The only thing that I can think of to do next is *shudder* format and reinstall, and see if that FIXES it. Any other IDEAS?

If it makes any difference, I have a Soyo SY-7ma-B motherboard and am running Win98SE.


thanks
iosmanWrong drivers...where did you get them ? Quote from: iosman on November 05, 2019, 07:54:42 AM

Hello,


Yesterday my sound was working no problem.
Today I couldn't connect to my internet radio station, https://www.krogerfeedback.nl https://talktosonic.onl so I went through troubleshooting and reinstalled Windows Media player.
I cannot play sounds from any program, and the speaker icon has gone missing from my system tray.
I have so far:
- Made sure that my onboard sound is enabled in BIOS
- Downloaded the latest audio drivers and installed them.
- Followed three of the solutions here: http://www.geocities.com/mmsystem002/ because I got this error: "MMSYSTEM002: A device id has been used that is out of range for your system."

The only thing that I can think of to do next is *shudder* format and reinstall, and see if that fixes it. Any other ideas?

If it makes any difference, I have a Soyo SY-7ma-B motherboard and am running Win98SE.


thanks
iosman

hello people-- I just purchased a new HP desktop with a HDD and a SSD. I also have an old HP pavilion that I remover the Hard drive from and want to attach it to my new computer so as to ADD more space. I purchased from amazon the following item-- a USB 3.0 to SATA III adapter cable with UASP SATA to USB Converter for 2.5 " hard drives and Solid State drives. I PLUGGED it into the back of the OLD hard drive and attached the USB end into my NEW computer. it should have shown up as ANOTHER hard drive- BUT it is NOT??? Ca anyone explain?? Please advise

As you can see from the pics-- the FIRST pic- is the old hard drive from my original HP computer and the second pic- shows that cable/adapter that is connected to that drive and plugged into the new computer thru the USB port on the front of the new computer. This should be the new way of a so-called external hard drive connection in place of using the old Enclosure types-- why is the computer not recognizing the hard drive ?? I dont see any pics...it should be pics of Disk Management...
Quote from: montek on December 28, 2019, 02:21:49 PM

hello people-- I just purchased a new HP desktop with a HDD and a SSD. I also have an old HP pavilion that I remover the Hard drive from and want to attach it to my new computer so as to ADD more space. I purchased from amazon the following item-- a USB 3.0 to SATA III adapter cable with UASP SATA to USB Converter for 2.5 " hard drives and Solid State drives. I plugged it into the back of the OLD hard drive and attached the USB end into my NEW computer. it should have shown up as ANOTHER hard drive- BUT it is NOT??? Ca anyone explain?? Please advise

As you can see from the pics-- the first pic- is the old hard drive from my original HP computer and the second pic- shows that cable/adapter that is connected to that drive and plugged into the new computer thru the USB port on the front of the new computer. This should be the new way of a so-called external hard drive connection in place of using the old Enclosure types-- why is the computer not recognizing the hard drive ??

Hello, I hope this is the correct section to post this in. I'm looking to upgrade my PC for more gaming and streaming. I mainly play RDR2 and ArmA 3 and I also stream the gameplay.

My current rig: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HzXfp8


I'm currently CPU OC'd to 4.5 Ghz ( although I feel like there is random jitter sometimes when using the PC)

I was told that upgrading the GPU to a 1660 should do the TRICK, but I feel like my CPU will bottleneck it all significantly.

All help is appreciated.Sorry, I can not help you.  But if I ever want to build a game PC, I would first look at the READY made stuff out there. It is hard to beat factory made Desktop PCs.
The Best Gaming Desktops for 2020
Notice how the pricks e vary a lot.   

Years ago you had to make your won. Now you have to make the choice, homebrew or in a box from a factory.       I'd BACK off on the overclock a hair and see if you can get rid of the jitter issue that way. I pushed for maximum stable overclock before and  I had to back off some to get the jitters to disappear. Other thing to look at is what your temperature is of that CPU because if its roasting hot it will thermal throttle and bottleneck on you and cause you to think you need an upgrade that you might just need a better CPU cooler to unlock the full potential of the video card.

What do you have for temps of the CPU and GPU idle and when gaming?Thanks for the replies, but in no way am I gonna consider buying a pre-built PC. I'm merely looking to upgrade.

I checked the temps and I have 68°C MAX on both GPU and some of the CPU cores. If voltage matters - I'm stable at 1.34.

Didn't LOWER the OC just yet because I realised I think I've encountered the jitter before - maybe low RAM frequency? Idk.

Although I do very often in intensive games see 100% CPU usage and very low GPU usage, don't know what to make of that.

So i upgraded from my old pc to the one i'm currently using.
But during use sometimes it starts stuttering but when i open a web browser it goes back to normal, and sometimes it stutters for 1 second and goes back to normal again.

I ran some tests with latencymon

and here they are if someone can help.

Mobo: asus prime a320m-k/br
cpu: ryzen 5 3600
ram: 16 gb 2666

============================

_______________________________________ _______________________________________ ___________________________
CONCLUSION
_______________________________________ _______________________________________ ___________________________
Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. One problem may be related to power management, DISABLE CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for  0:48:47  (h:MM:ss) on all processors.


_______________________________________ _______________________________________ ___________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_______________________________________ _______________________________________ ___________________________
Computer name:                                        DESKTOP-3K679VI
OS version:                                           Windows 10 , 10.0, version 1903, build: 18362 (x64)
Hardware:                                             ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC., PRIME A320M-K/BR
CPU:                                                  AuthenticAMD AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core PROCESSOR
Logical processors:                                   12
Processor groups:                                     1
RAM:                                                  16320 MB total


_______________________________________ _______________________________________ ___________________________
CPU SPEED
_______________________________________ _______________________________________ ___________________________
Reported CPU speed:                                   3593 MHz

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed STEP and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.

WARNING: the CPU speed that was measured is only a fraction of the CPU speed reported. Your CPUs may be throttled back due to variable speed settings and thermal issues. It is suggested that you run a utility which reports your actual CPU frequency and temperature.

From what I hear Dell and Lenovo are more reliable and last longer than Acer and HP is that true? A person I know had an Acer desktop computer and it only lasted three years.

What about Acer HIGH end gaming desktop are there any better? I know desktop computers last longer than laptops but what about high end gaming or multimedia computers? Or do you think they will not last more than 5 years?

I know some people who had computers last 10 years but do you think they just got lucky? Is the average EXPECTANCY 3 to 6 year life the norm?

I was thinking of getting the Acer Predator Orion desktop but I have no experience with Acer or the Acer Predator.

I also hear Intel 10nm is to come out Q1 of 2020 and NVIDIA 3000 series is to come out some TIME in 2020.
Hello,i have both dell and acer laptop while i have dell from dec 2013 its running fine but the core is old  core 17 4th gen and till now i have changed nothing in dell where as acer i cannot say anything till 1 year it does not have any problem but the body parts feel weak as compared to dell .
Acer preditor too fas as i know from my friends its good for hardcore games without any problem.
dell alienware:- Strong TOUGH and can be played in hardcore mode i have many time beat that alien ware laptop when ever i loose.
So you can trust both laptop if its costly .Here is a recent report:

The best desktop computers for 2019

Quote

We’ve reviewed nearly two hundred desktop PCs, putting each system through stringent benchmarks to see how these PCs perform. Prebuilt systems need to offer great configurations and excellent cooling, while custom PCs should allow for easy access to the components for easy upgrades.

Here is a recent report:

The best desktop computers for 2019

Here is the takeaway:
It is not the brand,it is the specific model withing a brand.
Examples:
The best all-in-one desktop: Apple iMac 5K.
The best desktop for gaming: HP Omen Obelisk
The best desktop for video editing: Corsair One Pro i180
So want do you really need? 

Hello,i have both dell and acer laptop while i have dell from dec 2013 its running fine but the core is old  core 17 4th gen and till now i have changed nothing in dell where as acer i cannot say anything till 1 year it does not have any problem but the body parts feel weak as compared to dell .
Acer preditor too fas as i know from my friends its good for hardcore games without any problem.
dell alienware:- Strong tough and can be played in hardcore mode i have many time beat that alien ware laptop when ever i loose.
So you can trust both laptop if its costly .

Yesterday i got a computer i set it up just FINE. I found out it had onboard graphics i had a spare graphics card that fit in the SLOT so i PUT it in and set it up and went to turn the computer on and it would turn on for a second then shut off. So i unplugged the computer and removed the graphics card. However now it won't turn on all it does is turn on for a second and shut off. I have tried unplugging and removing various things. I got it to turn on once when i removed the RAM sticks but it beeped loudly at me because of no ram. So i put them back in and the same thing. Then  i took them out again and then it once again would power on for a second and shut off. So i tried changing the power supply i had two spares that worked last time i checked and after changing the power supply i got the same thing with each one. It would turn on for a second and shut off. However if i leave the power supply unplugged and hit the power button all the fans and such on the motherboard power up and run with no problems. However if i plug the power supply into the motherboard  it will turn on for a second and then off. This problems has me truely stummped and not sure what to do.it sounds LIKE something fried in the motherboard, especially if you've replaced the power supply (which I thought was causing your problems when I started reading your post.  I had a bad power supply making my computer do the turn on/shut off-thing).  There incorrect voltage coming from/going to somewhere.

Hi. I'm Bill. I've been messing with computers for years, but not to build or program them, except bits and pieces very rarely.

I've seen how external graphics cards are being used to turn laptops into good graphics/gaming computers, and was wondering if the same could be done for an older (4-5 yo) desktop, and if so, what all would be involved in doing so. Any help appreciated greatly. Here are my rig specs:


      Operating System
         Windows 10 Home 64-bit
      CPU
         AMD FX-8350   34 °C
         Vishera 32nm Technology
      RAM
         16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 798MHz (11-11-11-28)
      Motherboard
         ASRock 970M Pro3 (CPUSocket)   41 °C
      Graphics
         Acer S201HL ([email protected])
         2048MB ATI ASUS HD6450 (ASUStek Computer Inc)   62 °C
      Storage
         931GB Western Digital WDC WD10 EALX-089BA0 SATA Disk Device (SATA )   35 °C
         931GB Western Digital WDC WD10 EZRZ-00Z5HB0 SATA Disk Device (SATA )   34 °C
         57GB SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 USB Device (USB )
         7GB SanDisk Cruzer USB Device (USB )
      Optical Drives
         ASUS DRW-24B1ST c SATA CdRom Device
      Audio
         Realtek High DEFINITION Audio
Operating System
   Windows 10 Home 64-bit
   Computer type: DesktopHi Bill
With a desktop like yours the fastest communication with a graphics card would be to have one connected to the PCI Express 2.0 x16 Slots (PCIE2: x16 mode; PCIE3: x4. There is no external connections which would come close to the speed of that slot in your computer. Does the computer have a small case with a low wattage power supply that you are looking at external? Thanks for answering.

The power supply is 550 I believe. It might be 650, but I'm pretty sure it is 550. The case of the computer is huge - much bigger than I wanted for the size of the mobo at the time, but that was the deal.

The PCI slots won't accept any graphics card larger than 2 gigs, and to use programs for 3d rendering like DAZ 3D and such, that is pretty much useless. In fact, when I use DAZ, it maxes out my CPU and doesn't seem to use my GPU at all. That's why I was wondering about an external card like what is being advertised for laptops.The PCI slots won't accept any graphics card larger than 2 gigs,

This makes no sense...more info on the PC...Hi
With Daz you need a nvidia graphics card with PLENTY of memory and you need to configure Daz to use the GPU. As a budget card which will work with your 550 watt power supply then this one 

 Geforce GTX 1060 - 6GB VRAM they can be had for $250 or less or better still Geforce GTX 1080 ti - 11GB VRAM you may need a better power supply for this card.
Your motherboard supports either of these cards or in fact any pci express card. You are better staying with nvidia running Daz. Quote from: Lisa_maree on December 23, 2019, 10:14:26 PM

Hi
With Daz you need a nvidia graphics card with plenty of memory and you need to configure Daz to use the GPU. As a budget card which will work with your 550 watt power supply then this one 

 Geforce GTX 1060 - 6GB VRAM they can be had for $250 or less or better still Geforce GTX 1080 ti - 11GB VRAM you may need a better power supply for this card.
Your motherboard supports either of these cards or in fact any pci express card. You are better staying with nvidia running Daz.

The PCI slots won't accept any graphics card larger than 2 gigs,

This makes no sense...more info on the PC...

Those two PCIe 2.0 x16 slots will accept any modern PCIe graphics card, what's making you think they won't? Where are you reading about this 2gb limit? If you're looking at the PCIe version (i.e. your board being PCIe 2.0 vs the cards being PCIe 3.0, don't worry, those standards are backwards compatible, a PCIe 3.0 card will work fine in a 2.0 slot with little performance penalty)

Many cases have removable drive cages at the front. I had to remove one of the drive cages from my system in order for a 1070 to fit, for example. perhaps this case does too and you never considered it.

Many cases have removable drive cages at the front. I had to remove one of the drive cages from my system in order for a 1070 to fit, for example. perhaps this case does too and you never considered it.

The mobo is mounted towards the back, and the graphics card I bought to upgrade ran into the back so it wouldn't fit.

I'm still not quite clear what you mean. is it too long, and running into the drive cage at the front, or is it too fat, and unable to plug in due to other components?

Just eyeballing the case and the motherboard the PCI-E 16x slot should be running into the void space above the HDD cage at the bottom. (In my case I had two cages, and it was the middle one I needed to remove to allow my Graphics card to fit)

All expansion cards will "run into the back" because that is where the ports are. Sometimes it has to be finessed, especially when there are lots of cables around, which looks to be the case based on your photo.

Since the case allows for 400mm cards and there aren't any consumer cards that go beyond 260mm right now that I can find I don't think it is a length issue related to the case itself.

Hi all,

I have an HP m7650n which has an e6300 (1.8 ghz) cpu.
like to OVERCLOCK it, but it SEEMS like the board (An Asus P5BW-LA-00) is locked (because the bios area for MODIFYING the CPU is greyed out).
I just came across an e8400 core 2 duo, and was wondering if popping this BABY into my board will WORK, and if so, will it be faster?

Thanks,

I want to upgrade my hard drive and I think this hard drive is compatible I'm just trying to MAKE sure if this hard drive will work???
WD Blue 1TB PC Hard Drive - 7200 RPM CLASS, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD10EZEX
will work in my Dell Optiplex 9020 AIO.

Thank you all
bperry195669Hi

Yes it will work with your Dell. Here is the OWNERS manual for you computer https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/optiplex-9020-aio_owners-manual_en-us.pdf

On page 18 is how to remove and replace your drive.
Good luck

A few weeks ago my desktop began freezing suddenly, then shutting down. Depending on how much time elapses between attempts, the computer usually boots up normally (sometimes freezing at the welcome screen, or on the options screen after I hit F12), but it always ends the same way with the computer eventually shutting down. I replaced the graphics card and when that didn't resolve the issue, I replaced the hard drive and reinstalled the OS (Windows 7 Home Premium). Also, the amount of time between when I boot up and when it crashes is also variable, which is how I was able to reinstall Windows, only to have it freeze while attempting to install the drivers.

Now I'm not sure what I'm dealing with. Could it be a memory issue or CPU? I'm assuming it's some hardware issue, but I'd like to narrow things down before I go buy another component. Any ideas?Here are some general comments about how to troubleshoot desktop PC.
Whenever you do it yourself, you don't have ready access to custom software provided by a major manufacturer. The best you can do is look for diagnostic software from the maker of the motherboard. You'd be interested in two specific things. You need some kind of test for your memory system and renewed some kind of test for your hard drive. You may want to try the memory test first.
Now the hard DRIVES. It is said that her drive failures might be nearly 80% of the failures in older computers. But that would mean that 20% of the time it has nothing to do with our drive. Well, if you've already done the memory test that pretty much is a fair test of the hardware other than the hard drive system.
The major hard drive manufacturers usually offer some kind of diet the tool for their specific hardware.

In my opinion, it would be a good idea to purchase a NEW hard disk drive and keep it on hand for occasions when you suspect there might be something wrong with your hard drive. You can use a modest size hard drive to get the system up and running. For example, hundred and 60 GB hard drive is more than enough for an installation of Windows 10 and a couple of your favorite games and other programs. You could try doing a minimal installation of Windows 10 and a couple of your favorite programs on a new 160 GB hard drive. Letting the hard drive have lots of free space is actually a good trick. This produces an effect that to causes a parent speed up in the system because the hard drive has all the data just in a small area. Have a name for that but I forgot that the call.. Anyhow the idea is that your half a small amount of programs and data on a fairly large drive. The 160 GB hard drive is viewed using only on stalled Windows 10 and a couple of programs.
Of course that takes some time, but time will spent. You will now have a spare hard drive that can be used to do a QUICK test of your system and see how the performances.
By the way, the solid-state drive does really does increase performance. However, even without the solid-state drive, your system should be reasonably good performing if you're system is working properly.
The problem with hard drives is sometimes you get bad sectors and the system just keeps retrying the same sector over and over again about reporting to the user that there's something wrong. This is just a design decision that somebody made in the business. And by the way, I used to work in hard drive research. So I think I know a little bit about how hard drives for at about how manufacturers try to cover up the performance issues.
That is much as I can do for you now.

End of dictation.   

EDIT: Somebody might tell you to format your old hard drive and start over. The is rather extreme and you lose all your material.  I recommend get a small cheap new drive and ding a windows instar to see if the performance is better.Just to clarify some things:

The only thing on the hard drives (including the brand new drive with the newly installed OS) having nothing on them BUT the OS--all the IMPORTANT files are kept on external drives, complete with backups. So I'm not concerned with losing anything.

Also, the computer isn't staying on long enough to run the memory diagnostic.

Here are some more general observations about things that cause the desktop computer to shut down.
A common problem is the fan on top of the CPU might be dislodged and is not working well, or the heatsink and become dislodged and not making good contact with the CPU. You have to take a look at it see if that's the possibility. Of course, you should check the temperatures, but if the thing shuts down real quick you won't have time for that.
A similar problem can occur with the power supply. This is one I've seen for myself. The power supply fan quits working but you don't notice it right away until you look real close and see that the fan is turning very slowly but not really running at full speed. This causes the power supply to overheat and it shuts down because there is a thermal cut out thing inside the power supply. That does not necessarily mean the power supply is bad, it is doing what it's supposed to do because the temperature rise tripped the thermal cut off thing. The answer to that is to replace the power supply fan, not the power supply.
Another thing is a CD-ROM drive that is going bad and shuts down the entire system because it's growing too much current from the power supply. Again, it's not the fault of the power supply because the power supply has a occurrence limit thing that shuts down when the current is going over certain point. This can happen on a very old CD-ROM drive that is got to the end of its life. Rather than trying to repair the CD-ROM drive, you just disconnect it and see if that makes a difference in behavior. That does happen once in a while. A similar problem can come with a hard drive that starts and draw too much current for some reason. And, by the way, the solid-state drive can also go bad and cause the system to stall because his drawing access current. The solution is to disconnect the solid-state drive. Actually, you trying to disconnect anything that is not necessary for the system to boot. You get down to the point of where all you have is just the BIOS screen come up and tell you there is no hard drive present or it cannot boot find it.
In other words, there is something other than the motherboard that is drawing too much current and causes the system shutdown. In the case of the heatsink on the CPU, the CPU itself also has a thermal cut out and was shut itself down if the temperature rises too high.
Again, these are general observations. There always is the chance that you have a motherboard that's gone south. In a few cases a capacitor on the motherboard has gone bad and is causing the problem. That issue was fixed in the industry some time ago on it should not be a current problem with newer computers. The capacitors going in the modern computers are very high quality and hardly ever do we have a failing capacitor anymore. But it could happen. A failing capacitor usually shows itself by bulging or having some discoloration or something that indicates that it's not working right.
I hope these general observations of give you an idea of what to look for.

This is from dictation. 

i was INSTALLING windows file ISO on my usb flash drive using rufus tool and while is loading the files suddenly DISAPPEAR, when i tried to open my usb flash drive is freeze the window not the whole pc just the windown (THIS PC) and when i UNPLUG it everythings ok. but every time i plug the usb is appear on THIS PC like normal but when i TRY to open it the window freeze i tried to uninstall the driver but is freeze too i can't do anything is there is a solution or this damage doesn't fix?

system: Windows 10
Format the USB...then use the Media Creator Tool...not Rufus to create a new one...
I'd do as patio said.  Once you plug in the usb don't open file explorer to format if it freezes the window.

Steps to follow:

• Right click on the Start button
• Left click on Computer Management
• Under 'Storage' on the left hand pane click Disk Management

I THINK it's a pretty GOOD deal I'm getting the motherboard a CPU and RAM pretty much everything except for a case for $40. I do KNOW ram is DDR3 and the reviews on board seem to be good.

Start dictation.
Recently some have come to CH with the idea we can fix any old computer. Yeah. 

Here is another THOUGHT about fixing an older computer.  Please bear with me, I love to fix things and make them work and I have found there is a point where you have to give up and look for another reasonable solution.   

Presently there are a number of retailers that will sell refurbished computers with guarantees that are almost as good as brand-new equipment.

In my area I found these to be the principal retail stores that are SELLING refurbished computers.

Best Buy
Staples
Walmart

Besides these, there are many firms that deal with sales over the Internet.
Here are some:

Amazon.com
Bonanza.com
Dell.com
Discount computers.com
eBay.com
Walmart.com, yes, they also do online sales.

Some computers that sold for over $600 when brand-new are now selling for less than a third of that price and with a warranty 

To cut down the cost of shipping, some items will not be included because they are items you probably already have. Most likely you have a usable keyboard and a mouse and possibly the monitor you have still works.
 
In my PERSONAL opinion used laptops are not as good an investment as a used desktop. However, I am sure others will not agree with that idea.

I think this is relevant to the discussion. How much is your old computer really worth? And how important is it to you to RECOVER SOMETHING that you had enjoyed very much?

There is no  point in having a strong attachment to a thing like a computer or an automobile. Maybe you can have an attachment to a house, because that's where you grew up. Otherwise material things don't deserve our loyalty.

You can give the old PC to your grandchildren. 


But I stall have my old laptop. It works it I use an external monitor. 
Stop dictation.

I'll post my PC specs first before anything:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H61M-S2PV rev.2.2
Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-3240 Processor 3M Cache, 3.40 GHz
Ram: Kingston HyperXBeast 8GB Kit / 2 x 4GB DDR3
OS: Windows 10 Pro

Now, I've had this PC for about...3-4 YEARS now I'll say. Roughly. When I started online classes, they sent out all the components and our first task was to build our very own PC from scratch. So this was (and is) my first and only build ever. Never gave me any problems whatsoever. However, something was always off to me whenever I would try to run games. They would have low FPS, even on low settings for a lot of games. And I thought that was weird, because the GPU that came with the build is a EVGA GeForce GT 730 4GB DDR3 128bit Dual DVI mHDMI Graphics Card. So what I found out was that my PC was NEVER using the GPU, only running the onboard graphics, which are the standard Intel HD Graphics (yay). So my problem (and question): what seems to be the problem? Did I do something wrong initially when building the PC? Is it the GPU itself, the motherboard, etc. I'm really lost, and I'm probably going to just get a new motherbaord and case soon anyway, but I want to know if there is anything I can do first. This is my baby  The GT 430 video card is very weak to todays standards, and 3 or 4 years ago it was weak then too, and surprised they set you up with that for hardware although understands that it was a low cost hands on build. I'd junk that video card and upgrade to something newer. A GTX 1050 can be purchased for around $100 new. As long as the display is connected directly to the video card and the driver for that video card installed for your OS, it should work flawless.

*Only concern i have is that if your display is VGA only, you will need a display with a DVI or HDMI port to connect to the better video card. I bought a GTX 1050 and tried to use a DVI to VGA adapter and sadly the Analog DVI connections were only available in the GeForce 700 series and prior as they dropped legacy support for VGA in everything newer. I ended up returning the video card to get a refund of the $120 instead of buying a new monitor for it that was Digital DVI. If you want to stick to the VGA display you have if DVI or HDMI is not available, you could buy a GTX 780 video card and go that route for much better performance than the GT 430. There is also a GT 730 out there as I have one of these too in one of my BUILDS, but the GTX is far better than the GT cards, so its worth it to spend a little extra and have the better performance instead of noticing a difference in the GT 730 and then as you start playing games you notice that the frame rates are better than the GT 430 but still lagging.

Lastly if you decide to go with video card upgrade, the GTX 1050 comes in 2 flavors one that is powered off the PCI Express slots on board power. There are others that require 12V molex connections for power supply to power it directly vs through motherboards PCI Express slot. The cards that are powered off of the power supply direct generally have better performance than that of the cards that rely on just the wattage limitations of the PCI Express slots power. So when GETTING a GTX 1050 if you decide to go this route be sure to get the one without the 12Volt Molex connections if your power supply is lacking them, however if your power supply has them tucked to side inside case, I'd go with a better video card that takes a direct 12 volt connection as they are clocked faster and draw more power which = better performance vs a card that is underclocked to stay cool and low power consumption to stay within the maximum wattage draw of the PCI Express slot.

*Note: Geforce GPUs mentioned above are not the latest and greatest but they are plenty for most games being the GTX 780 and GTX 1050. The GT 730 does way better than the GT 430 that I also own, but games like Witcher 3 only play good on the GTX 780 and newer as I've tried the GTX 260 and GTX 560 with Witcher 3 and they play it but with lag. It comes down to what games you want to play and the game requirements for those games too. Witcher 3 was just an example of a heavy hitting CPU/GPU game that I own.Dave, unless I missed something, didn't OP mention a 730, not a 430?

Quote

So my problem (and question): what seems to be the problem? Did I do something wrong initially when building the PC?

BC Stated ... Dave, unless I missed something, didn't OP mention a 730, not a 430?

Hello all, First Post, but I "HOPE" someone can help me with this problem...

I have a Dell Vostro 230, running Windows 7 Pro, 64-bit. It has an Intel Core Duo CPU E7500 running at 2.93 Ghz The ORIGINAL memory is in the system 4 Gb as well as the original C: drive of 300 Gb (2.88 Gb reported) Additionally I have two internal Terabyte drives.

Now I have and use a Haupague Digital TV card I believe v8.0.35054 and a NVIDIA GeForce GT 610 and I am running two monitors.

As to the mother board, well no idea, but stock.

I've been using computers a long time, even before I had DOS 3.21 and Windows 3. I've worked in electronics for 30 years for the government, traveled the world with satellite systems and automated test equipment repair and installation. I retired.  Five years after that, out of financial necessity, I repaired slot machines at a local casino in a forty hour week for five years. I hunt and peck type, wore out three keyboards on this system, (actually wore the letters off the keys).

Here's the problem...

The GT 610 is narrow and sits right next to the digital tuner. No room for a better video card with more "on-board" memory.

Right now, I'm using 2.14 Gb of memory. The only thing running is Firefox, (bloated) and Windows Task manager. I would blame it on end of life bloatware installed by microsoft updates to get me to switch to a new computer and maybe Windows 10, but I can not afford a new computer.

Somewhere, I believe on the DELL site they said that the maximum memory this box can use is 4 Gb.

I have seen the memory in use top out in Windows Task Manager, have the system more often than not hang and require a reboot in Facebook with a game like Slotomania. It has been getting worse and worse. I think the Bloated Firefox along with the SHARED memory by the video card is causing these problems.

One solution would be a better video card that would not INFRINGE on the real estate of the adjacent card or more memory.

I'm thinking of removing the Video capture card if worse comes to worse to get a better video card. But STILL keeping it to import old VHS tapes and convert them and reinstalling the present video card when those projects are finished.

So, has anyone successfully stuffed more memory into this type of box?

I'm too old to try and learn another operating system, I have Ubumtu on a "salvaged laptop" from the same era, and it won't do what I want as I'm addicted to Wondershare UniConverter, Photoshop V9, VueScan. I have not tried the laptop with Firestorm or Second Life yet.

So, in summation, help or advice is appreciated for someone 68 years old and in the process of forgetting computer terminology but still needing help....

Thanks in advance for your patience in reading this post,
Cordially,
Gerry



Hi Gerry,

You are right the Dell you have is limited to 4 Gb of memory it being from windows XP days. Was it a mistake the size of the C drive of 2.88gb or was that free space if it was, it really isn't enough you should have at least 20 GB free.
Also as you are using the original drive from about 10 years ago it could be the 300 GB drive is coming to the end of life. A program to check  hard drives is HDSentinel from here https://www.hdsentinel.com/download.php
Have you done any house keeping of windows. Like running CCCleaner from here https://www.ccleaner.com/
Or malaware bytes from here https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/
All these either have free or trial versions.



Is it true that you are running 64-bit Win 7?  A 64-bit OS isn't recommended for systems with 4GB or less of RAM.  It would require a clean install, but you might consider moving to a 32-bit version of Win 7.  That may reduce your current memory requirements and make the system more usable. Quote from: strollin on January 16, 2020, 12:38:04 PM

Is it true that you are running 64-bit Win 7?  A 64-bit OS isn't recommended for systems with 4GB or less of RAM.  It would require a clean install, but you might consider moving to a 32-bit version of Win 7.  That may reduce your current memory requirements and make the system more usable.

the system more often than not hang and require a reboot

To get straight to the point. (I hope this is the right place for this problem.)

I built my FIRST PC almost 6 - 7 months ago, for the most part it has done better than I could have hoped. However over time I've noticed it's had a bad habit of freezing.

By freezing I mean: The screen and what is displayed on it is frozen, no input from the keyboard works and the fans/lights are all still running. It requires a full reboot to work again.
This even prevents me from updating windows as once it makes any progress, it freezes and has to revert back to the previous version.

In the beginning this was once every week or so, then maybe two times a day? But now it's gotten to the point of freezing 7 - 10 times a day for 'seemingly' no reason. I could be running an application, a game, watching a video, or just sitting there and it will freeze.

I know that exact specifications on hardware help a lot in this matter, and i'm still not sure it's even the hardware at fault.

It started with:
A Ryzen 5 2400G
A Gigabyte AB350 motherboard
G.Skill 8GB DDR4-3200 RAM
An Addlink S20 256GB SSD
And a Cooler Master MWE 500 power supply

The plan was to start with this and upgrade to better hardware over time, just a few months ago I bought and installed an RX 570 4GB.

I took the advice of someone and opened event viewer, after every critical event and the reboot of the PC the same error messages are displayed in the logs: (In order)

The GLCKIO2 service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

The AMDRyzenMasterDriver service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the path specified.

The Remote Access Connection Manager service terminated unexpectedly.  It has done this 1 time(s).  The following corrective action will be taken in 120000 milliseconds: Restart the service.

The Update Orchestrator Service service terminated unexpectedly.  It has done this 1 time(s).

The Windows Update service terminated unexpectedly.  It has done this 1 time(s).  The following corrective action will be taken in 60000 milliseconds: Restart the service.


The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{6B3B8D23-FA8D-40B9-8DBD-B950333E2C52}
 and APPID
{4839DDB7-58C2-48F5-8283-E1D1807D0D7D}
 to the user NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE SID (S-1-5-19) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC) running in the application container Unavailable SID (Unavailable). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.


The machine-default permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{C2F03A33-21F5-47FA-B4BB-156362A2F239}
 and APPID
{316CDED5-E4AE-4B15-9113-7055D84DCC97}
 to the user DESKTOP-KTVJV1S\Josh SID (S-1-5-21-1877640034-493711011-1665961197-1001) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC) running in the application container Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_1.9.6.16299_n eutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy SID (S-1-15-2-1861897761-1695161497-2927542615-642690995-327840285-2659745135-2630312742). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.


The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{D63B10C5-BB46-4990-A94F-E40B9D520160}
 and APPID
{9CA88EE3-ACB7-47C8-AFC4-AB702511C276}
 to the user DESKTOP-KTVJV1S\Josh SID (S-1-5-21-1877640034-493711011-1665961197-1001) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC) running in the application container Unavailable SID (Unavailable). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.


The server {B91D5831-B1BD-4608-8198-D72E155020F7} did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.


I'm sorry for the block of text but I'd rather go overboard than vague, and I'm sure this is relatively simple to people who know much more about this than I do.

Any insight is appreciated.



Hi

Could you run Speccy on the computer and publish a link to the report please .

https://www.ccleaner.com/speccy/download/portable

Then after the program runs,
select file
publish snapshot
Copy the link to the clip board and then paste the link to a post here.

Thanks
 Sure thing.

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/oFFLTri7CxbgCBZsCAXCj5q

Apologies if my initial post was too vague. You said:
Quote

I built my first PC almost 6 - 7 months ago

Hi everyone, I was starting my PC and it's suddenly showing horizontal lines and it's not starting up. It was working fine 3 hours ago and all of a sudden this problem came up. I'll ATTACH some pics regarding this. Please TELL me what's the case here. Thanks in advance. I haven't done any HARDWARE or software CHANGES. My pc is running on windows 7 professional 64bit.Check the monitor cables are secure.  Reseat the GRAPHICS card in the slot if possible.   Run check disk and/or a drive health bootable program.

Here is some more info   https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/bug-check-0x24--ntfs-file-system

I know there are other threads with a similar title, but I already tried everything suggested in these threads without solving anything.
My situation is the following: my PC is an HP p71011-it with Windows 10. My BIOS is AMI 7.15 (10/13/2011), my motherboard is a Pegatron Corporation 2AB6 1.04 and I have a Nvidia GT 610 as graphic card. Since I had this PC (2014) it gave me some troubles: it sometimes freezes and reboots randomly. By "sometimes" I mean that there are periods in which it works just fine and periods in which I can't literally use it because it freezes before booting successfully. After more than one year of it WORKING well, this problem verified again when I tried to connect my TV as a monitor last week. Since then it won't stay turned on more than 5 minutes unless I disable my graphic card, switching back to the integrated one. When my graphic card is disabled my PC runs just fine without major problems or freezes; then after some time (e.g. a month) I switch the graphic card back on and pray it works; generally most of the times it does, but I'd like to solve this problem once for all. Here a list of information about the freezes:
- Sometimes when the PC freezes my speakers emit white noise for 1-2 second and the PC reboots without any BS;
- Sometimes it seems all external hardware stops working: my keyboard and mouse lights turn off, my screen goes black and the LED on my monitor (normally red) begins to blink, but without a "No signal" message (which is the standard message of my monitor - a Samsung SyncMaster S24B350 - when the, uhm, signal is missing). The PC doesn't turn off or reboot in this case.
- Sometimes the PC freezes and displays a blue screen with a emoji and error code VIDEO_SCHEDULER_INTERNAL_ERROR. It reboots after 20 sec or so.

Here a list of things I tried to do that didn't solve the problem:
- Formatting PC. I did several times.
- Changing OS (the original OS of this PC was Win7, then I installed Win10 and/or used Ubuntu Desktop. No luck.)
- Changing monitor/HDMI cable. I also tried both of them with other PCs and they worked fine.
- Changing graphic card: this was astonishing because I was certain it was its fault. This PC originally had a GT 530, i bought a GT 610 hoping to solve the problem. No luck.
- Updating graphic card drivers.
- Installing/uninstalling NVidia softwares like GEForce Experience.
- Updating BIOS (it seems I have the last version).
- Cleaning the tower. I did several times.
- Running CCleaner or any antivirus.
- Checking the internal cables: I thougth maybe some of them were a bit loose. That wasn't the case.
- Using PC in Safe Mode: it freezes also there (provided it BOOTS successfully before entering it). It actually worked in Safe Mode with low graphics (I don't know the english name, it is a Safe mode in which PC uses the integrated graphic card instead of the NVidia one), and it is the way I discovered that disabling the GT610 makes the PC work. But I obviously am very limited with only the integrated card.
- Asked for technical support (from an expert friend of mine, who tried some of these things listed above).

I don't remember if there are other things I tried, in that case I'll update the list. Thank you in advance to everyone (just for having read all this post you deserve my gratitude).Thank you for such a comprehensive post. I would be checking the computer for bad capacitors on the motherboard and graphics card here is a wiki page of what to look for.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Also if you can or know someone who can check the power supply it would be worth either doing that or fitting a new atx supply it's just a common atx supply in your HP.

Quote from: Lisa_maree on January 13, 2020, 12:49:46 PM

Thank you for such a comprehensive post. I would be checking the computer for bad capacitors on the motherboard and graphics card here is a wiki page of what to look for.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Also if you can or know someone who can check the power supply it would be worth either doing that or fitting a new atx supply it's just a common atx supply in your HP.

Hi
Either the Multimeter has a flat battery or the power supply is really stuffed. The voltages should be 

- Black: 0V (obviously)
- Red: 5V
- Blue: -12V
- Orange: 3.3V
- Yellow: 12V
- Purple: +5V
- Grey: 5.0V

The fact the grey wire was close to right at 5.06 V seems it is not the Multimeter
You really need to replace the power supply.

Trying to help my dad with a 10 year old PC.  WANT to help him play flight simulators.  I updated his graphics CARD... notice he has a Intel I7 960 CPU.  Is that a CRAPPY CPU?

I have a pair of razer USB headphones that ring in one side of the headphones. I usually "solve" this ISSUE by simply leaving that side of the earphones off my head when it starts to really bother me. However...I'm wanting to get a new pair of headphones soon, and I don't want this PROBLEM on my new set.

It's really weird how it seems to be positionally dependent. There is a "sweet spot" where the ringing is loudest, and some areas where it disappears COMPLETELY. Unfortunately for me the areas where it rings is pretty much exactly where I sit at my computer. Another weird thing is that today I was trying different USB ports and the ringing is much worse when I tried CONNECTING it to the front ports vs. the back ports. This makes me wonder if there is an internal component causing this ringing?Dyrone,
Please give e more detail.
Do you have normal hearing?
What if you  use other type of headphones?

Hi all

Recently I got a PC for xmas (ryzen 3400g, mobo Asus a320, 2x8gb ram 2666, 500w 80p gamemax psu) and it ran smoothly for 2 weeks. But since last Tuesday, it has been either shuttling down or it stops working and the led fans start blinking, which I assume means the PSU is trying to work.

However, the puzzling part is that there is no overheat of the CPU, fans are fine and the shutdown OCCURS AFTER I close the games and leave the system IDLE. It usually TAKES less than one minute and up to five. I saw this happen with gta V, lol, dota underlords, cs go. What the *censored* could be going on?

I took the PC to the shop that built it and they ran several stress tests and found nothing. So I took the pc home, played 30 min of gta SA and Cs go and when I closed Go, after a few SECONDS, the system was down and the fans LEDs flickering. In this state I have to unplug the pc and plug it back ot turn it on. The power button doesn't respond.

The power outlet has the CPU, monitor and a router. I replaced the power cable with the same results.

Thanks for your attention.
Sounds most likely it's the PSU...to TEST borrow a known good one and swap it in there overnite...Hi patio, thanks for the prompt reply

At the moment I don't have another PSU of this spec to switch with so i can't test it right away. The shop will replace the PSU if they can diagnose that it is the culprit.

Question, do you know how or why a PSU would fail in this scenario? If I start the PC and leave it on, it doesn't fail. If I play for several hours straight, it also doesn't fail

Thanks
Hey,

Check the mobo Asus a320 help on your motherboard.  I was looking online and it has a new feature called EPU (Energy Processing Unit).  Try looking at the steps below in the link.  It's kind of like Windows sleep function.  It may be going in to whats called "Away Mode".  It starts shutting things down in the pc and may be the cause.  So you might be able to switch this off.  Hope this helps!


https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1036401/ Quote from: Base10 on January 13, 2020, 09:45:56 AM

Check the mobo Asus a320 help on your motherboard.  I was looking online and it has a new feature called EPU (Energy Processing Unit).  Try looking at the steps below in the link.  It's kind of like Windows sleep function.  It may be going in to whats called "Away Mode".  It starts shutting things down in the pc and may be the cause.  So you might be able to switch this off.  Hope this helps!

I have an HP pavillion dvt-4100 laptop.  Great laptop, but lately its been having an overheating problem, in that it shuts down randomly after a COUPLE of HOURS use, and the temp of the cores as shown by the core temp software is 101 and 103.  I have opened the laptop and cleaned out the vents but the shutdown problem and the overheating still continues.  So the next thing I am going to check and REPLACE is the thermal paste that sits on top of the cpu and the gpu.  Actually Im not sure if there is thermal paste or a thermal pad.  What does this laptop have, thermal paste or thermal pads?  Also if it is thermal pads, then what is the thickness those thermal pads need to be so they can bridge the gap between the CHIPS and the heatsink?  Also, if the thickness of one pad isnt enough, can I PUT one pad on top of another?



Can I replace all the thermal paste with thermal padsYou do not need to rep;ace a thermal pad.
Look at this:

do I need to replace thermal paste?

He says yes.
But he is using a DIY game computer. It does NOT mean  a factory made laptop.
More likely the fan is running slow.

My laptop running W10 is running very badly, slow. really slow, on boot up, sometimes won't come on for hours, and then barely is operational. I bought a new laptop and I'd like to transfer my pictures to the new laptop. Is there any way I can reset the old one, without losing my picts?Yes, you can transfer all you photos to a USB stick.Copy the pics to an external drive.This be a good PLACE to mention "Cloud Storage."
Form Google.

Free instant-access online storage
    Google Drive: 15GB free.
    Box: 10GB free.
    OneDrive: 5GB free (1TB for students)
    Amazon Drive: 5GB (+ unltd photos with PRIME)
    iCloud: 5GB free.
    DROPBOX: 2GB free (up to 18GB with referrals)
    BT Cloud: 10GB-1,000GB 'free' with BT b'ban

I like Dropbox, but others give more free storage. 

With cloud storage you can get your stuff with another device, EVEN your smartphone. On course, the apps don't work, but pictures and videos have standard formats. Most smartphones will resize an image to fit the display.Hello , you should use one of cleaner soft apps for WINDOWS, and clean unusable your auto-on process

Guys,

I have got a problem with an external Seagate FreeAgent 2TB USB drive that frequently gets detected by Windows as an "Initio Default Controller".  Occasionally when I connect it to the power and the USB connector, Windows fully detects the drive.  Crystal Disk Info detected that the drive was in good health and its temperature stayed in the safe range longer than my OLD FreeAgent drive, which still gets detected properly EVERY time.  Currently copying music files to my only external drive that does not NEED an external power source.

Any suggestions on getting the drive to be fully detected every time?  At the moment of writing this, the drive is fully detected and in use to get those files copied over.  The original location for those files is the old FreeAgent drive, which is currently put away in its original box, which I kept all these years.  I copied all the files off the old FreeAgent drive before it had a chance to start dying, as Crystal Disk Info said its health was bad.  The second FreeAgent drive, which is what this post is about, was a lucky find.  I do not want to seek a REFUND from the seller.  At least it is not dead.

The drive is one of Seagate's silver colored units.

I got a gaming pc as a gift a couple of years ago and with taxes coming up I was gonna grab some upgrades for it I have a CYBERPOWERPC X-Titan red and black case with a Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P FX motherboard WOULD I be able to swap that for a B450 Tomahawk so I can use AM4 sockets for a CPU upgrade I currently have an AMD FX-6300 wanting to upgrade to an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 with 16 GB of ddr4 ram would that be possible or would I have to get a new case as well. thanks for any help you can give. SWAPPING a new board and CPU should work fine...no need for a new case.

However you will LIKELY be replacing the RAM as well and check that the PSU will have enuff Gusto.

I can never GET my printer to work. I thought I fixed the problem last week by doing the shut down 'print spooler' service and then restarting it in 'services'. It successfully printed several documents after that. But I just went to print something right now and it didn't work.

OS: Windows 10
Printer: HP LaserJet 1200 Series

Here's what I've tried so far:

https://thetechhacker.com/2017/10/17/fix-printer-offline-problem-windows-10/

At that site, in Method 1, my printer does not show up in the LIST of printers. In Method 2, stopping and restarting the print spooler service does not fix anything this week.

Rebooting the computer does not help.

Plugging the printer into different USB ports doesn't fix anything.

https://support.hp.com/in-en/topic/printscandoctor-printing-problems#fixPrintingContainer2

Installing HP Print and Scan Doctor doesn't fix the problem. The app actually sees the printer, which is good, but it doesn't fix the problem. It says there are 3 HP LaserJet 1200s installed. The actual HP LaserJet 1200, HP LaserJet 1200 Copy 1 and HP LaserJet 1200 Copy 2. I clicked on all of them and pressed 'Retry' and 'Connect' but it doesn't connect any of them.

https://www.lifewire.com/fix-usb-ports-4151908

01: Restart the computer. Doesn't fix the problem.

02: Physically inspect the USB ports. I am not going to know if there's anything wrong by taking the computer apart and visually inspecting them. The ports work when I plug anything else into them, so I assume the USB ports are fine. The problem is, the computer does not see the printer.

03: Plug the device into another USB port. I have tried every USB port and it makes no difference.

04: Swap to a different USB cable. I can't because the USB cable for the printer is hardwired.

05: Plug printer into different computer. Haven't tried that.

06: Try plugging in a different USB device. Tried, they all work.

07: Check device manager and disable the USB controllers, then restart computer. Did that, doesn't fix the problem.
Scan for hardware changes: did that, doesn't fix the problem.Most likely the printer  itself is bad.
HP LaserJet 1200 Series is a pricey printer.
 Over $300  For that price the dealer ought to replace it.
Did it have a warranty?

I have successfully used the printer before, on this computer, as I said. The last time was about 2 weeks ago. But for some reason, every time I get it to work, it only works for that day, then Windows does something that causes it to no longer recognize the printer, and to keep adding more copies of the same printer, which often don't work either. I have noticed it adding synthetic copies of my printers for years (any type of printer - HP, Canon, Samsung, etc), but usually it was tolerable because I could just set one of the copies as the default printer and it would work. That strategy doesn't work anymore. I can't even use the synthetic copies of the printer now. One of the two things I didn't try the other day, plugging it into a different computer, was the answer. It works with Windows Vista and it works with Linux Mint. The printer is fine. The problem is Windows 10. Plugged it in and Linux Mint recognized it right away. No hassles with drivers or anything. The only issue was it wouldn't print an email until I rebooted the Linux PC and disconnected the printer for 60 seconds. I was hoping to get advice here on how to get Windows 10 to recognize the printer. I guess I'll just have to print from Linux from now on. Hard to believe Linux has become easier to work with than Windows, at least for printing.For most of us, substitution is the best way to test parts of out system.
Sometimes a problem becomes unstable and we can not find the fault.
I think the cable is failing. Also, if the power unit inside the printer has a small component failure, it will show that kind of trouble.
In any case, you have to try another printer and cable. The fault might be anything inside the printer, but my guess is the power unit, But that is only a guess.

Having a spare printer is a good idea. At local stores you can  cheap printers that are being sod as part of a promotion. I got one for under $30 and it came with ink.
Consider this: Ask a tech to solve the problem and he will ha veto charge you at least the cost of his time. In the developed world, it is more than cost of the promotional printer on sale.

BTW, all printers should have a removable USB cable.
The LaserJet 1200 is my spare printer. What I like about it is, laser cartridges don't dry out so you don't have to rush to use the ink within a short time. It's also fast, not complicated, no frills, and not fragile. I've gotten a lot of use out of it for more than 10 years and it's STILL going. I've also got a HP OfficeJet (uses ink) which is currently broken. It was fragile, complicated, and finicky. If I can't fix it I'll buy a new one. And if Windows 10 causes problems with a brand new printer, I'll just connect both printers to my Linux PC and use that as my main computer.Wait, I did not know you had a spare system.
So did you try the HP on the Linux system and it works OK?
If so that would indeed indicate the Windows 10 has got a problem.

When we suspect that Windows 10 has a hardware driver-issue, we try another install of Windows just to see. You can boot Windows 10 from a USB flash drive it will d find right driver for that printer.

Maybe you already know that, but for the all readers:
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-run-windows-10-from-a-usb-drive

Microsoft offers its own tool called Windows to Go, which can generate a bootable Windows USB drive. However, that program works only with the Enterprise and Education versions of Windows 10 and requires a certified Windows to Go drive. A better (and free) option is a utility called WinToUSB, which can create a bootable drive from any version of the operating system and on any type of USB drive.

The article has some tips of how to do it. Having Windows on a stick is a big helpto find possible hardware issues.

That is the best I can offer. 
"When we suspect that Windows 10 has a hardware driver-issue, we try another install of Windows just to see. You can boot Windows 10 from a USB flash drive it will d find right driver for that printer."

But is that a permanent solution? It doesn't sound like it. It sounds like you'd have to shut down your PC and boot from the USB every time you wanted to print something. The link you included doesn't seem to indicate otherwise.

I had to print a receipt that was emailed to me. With Windows on a USB, I'd have had to shut down the PC, boot it with the USB, and then either install my email client on the USB or go to the webmail version. Even if the USB version of Windows found the printer and successfully completed the print job, I'd then have to boot it again to go back to normal Windows 10.
Completely reinstalling the printer would seem to be worth an attempt.

You would do this by unplugging the printer's USB cable, and uninstalling all Printer-related HP software and removing all the HP 1200 printers in "Printers and Scanners" (click it and then "remove device").

Once it's all gone, you want to first install HP's "DOT4" driver, found on the Laserjet 1200 page. Under "Driver-USB (1)" you want to download and install "HP LaserJet USB (DOT4) communication driver for Windows 8 and Higher (64-bit)".

Once that is installed- and still with the printer unplugged, install the Universal Printer driver available on that same page. Specifically, I'd suggest "HP Universal Print Driver for Windows PCL6 (64-bit)". During installation it should give you an option of different modes, from which you should choose "USB Mode Plug & Play". Once the driver finishes installing, you can then connect the printer and it should be detected and installed by the PC.

Hi there,

I need your expert support!

Problem:

My laptop doesn't detect the external display anymore (though it worked before). Connected via Thunderbolt / USB C.

History/What I tried:

- The same issue happened before. Laptop was brand new. Worked for two weeks, then all of a sudden: black display. Contacted lenovo support. Made sure all driver / firmware updates are installed. Also tried all the OBVIOUS settings in windows (try to switch between internal display only to duplicate display etc. // windows+p). Afterwards (still not working) lenovo offered to exchange the laptop against a new one.

- The new identical one worked for three days with the screen before the external display again WENT black. Same procedure with the Lenovo support. They were out of ideas and sent me a third new laptop.

- While waiting for the new laptop, we bought a new display, too! In this configuration, it now worked for quite a few weeks - and now it's dead again. So the same issue happened with three identical laptops and two completely different screens (one old LG, one new Dell).

- Tried the displays with another laptop (this time via HDMI, not thunderbolt) - it works. Tried to connect my TV to the "problem-laptop": Black screen.

Suspicion:

I feel like this has something to do with power supply. With laptop #2 the screen went black in the exact moment I pulled to power cable and it went to battery mode. Afterwards it never came back (also when connected to the power). Also with laptop #3 I THINK it happened after a similar situation. Also one of the three identical laptops once showed a warning message that read something like: "can't display on external screen. not enough power".
ผลบอล7m

The laptop:

Lenovo Ideapad 720S

Windows 10

Display connected though Thunderbolt port > Adapter to HDMI > HDMI cable

So... any idea what's wrong here? Don't want to get a fourth laptop just to have the same issue after a few weeks again.

Thank you for your help.I wonder if the external display is drawing too much power and causing problems with the USB port in the laptop.  I think I would try getting a USB hub with it's own power supply and plugging the hub into the laptop then the external display into the hub.Welcome to the forum. I change the title of this thread. Moving forward, PLEASE use a subject that relates to the problem / question. Thanks.My guess is the use of the Thunderbolt port .
Do a search for:
 thunderbolt port vs usb c
... and find articles about possible issues.
And it is possible that item is bad.
One of many:

https://www.howtogeek.com/449991/thunderbolt-3-vs.-usb-c-whats-the-difference/ Quote

It’s not clear if Intel plans on updating Thunderbolt to version 4, but the future for Thunderbolt 3 is very clear. Intel’s Thunderbolt protocol is merging into USB4. The specification for USB4 was announced in the summer of 2019, with USB4 based products rolling out in 2020 or 2021.

Hello, i have a problem :<
Suddenly my Seagate BUP Eksternal HDD won't work and freezing if i plug my android PHONE. While usually is work fine before if i plug both of it. If i replug my HDD, it won't appear on the explorer even it appear plug in at device and printer control panel.

If i unplug my phone, the HDD back to work PROPERLY. Is it because before i check the ALWAYS USE this option for opening the file autimaticly when i plug my android phone?

Thank you.
Quote

Is it because before i check the always use this option for opening the file autimaticly when i plug my android phone?

I have two HID compliant mice listed in my device manager (Windows10). I only have one mouse plugged in at the rear of the PC. I disabled one of them and my mouse quit working. I got it back and removed the other one but it came back after a reboot. Why should there be two listed? One of the reasons for asking is that I can't wake my PC up with the mouse or keyboard and have tried several methods and am trying the Hybrid sleep method now. I do have my mouse and keyboard selected to allow either to wake the PC after sleep but they won't. it's not only aggravating but mechanically damaging to keep clicking the power button on the PC to get it out of the sleep mode.Curious if this is a laptop and the touchpad is listed as the 2nd mouse? If a desktop computer does the keyboard have any mouse control features like TRACK ball or accu-pointer or touch pad etc?It's a PC. BTW, the waking after sleep mode isn't working with the hybrid mode so I changed it back to 10 minutes to shut both off.
Some KEYBOARDS which have various "macro" features will add a Mouse device so that they can fake mouse inputs. Sometimes an additional mouse is added also by the device software for this purpose too.

I have two mice listed in device manager for this reason. One of them LISTS a Location of "on Corsair composite virtual input device" which presumably is related to my Corsair keyboard.An INTERESTING answer to why I have two mice. Thanks for the response.

hi i have a problem with my rtx 2070 it seems it WONT run at pciex3 i get black screen if set to gen3 or auto in mb bios. and works screen on gen 2. i have an i5 8600k, z370 aorus ultra gaming 2.0 mb,32gig gskill 3000 ram ,650w psu. THINGS ive tried =checked bios updated to LATEST different drivers for card ddu uninstaller tried PUTTING the rtx in wifes COMP and i got pciex3 no problem so then i went back and put my old 1080 back in my comp and got pciex3.......... omg by now im pulling my hair out ive never seen this before nor can i get help. can u help me plz.